Tag: fantasy

She raised her eyes to the mirror and saw the mascara running down her cheeks. For some reason, it made her smile. It might have been the wine or the day’s events, but she was done crying and ready to move on. However brief that future may be. She walked[…]

Silverwood slept peacefully while the countryside burnt. It was not her fire. It was not her countryside either. Anyway, the villagers had always thrown stones at her when they saw her. She slept peacefully and awoke to the sound of the troll groaning. She had forgotten to water him! She[…]

His wings lay to the side. The act of tearing them off had hurt more than he could explain but the jagged wounds in his flesh just felt numb. He felt numb. Then he remembered his anger. He remembered why he was doing what he was doing. He remembered who he[…]

After drinking all evening, it had sounded like a great idea. Charles had come off duty earlier in the evening and he still had his sword on him. The rest of them were only in their evening wear. It did not matter. They were just going to sneak up to the[…]

When all was said and done, he still felt shitty about the whole thing. He knew he was saving the world, but he was also stealing, hiding and sneaking all around. He alone carried the Orb, hiding it from the Dark Lord. This burden was so heavy that only a[…]

Sometimes Artificial Intelligence–AI–goes bad. Sometimes AI-code fractures and its mistakes loop further and further from its original purpose. These loops could manifest itself in any number of ways through people connected to the Web with their Conduits or external hardware. They were hired by an AI-funded organisation to be the[…]

The people of the island had simple lives. It was quiet and far away from civilisation. They were too remote even for the most adventurous trader, particularly since they had nothing to trade. War was foreign and the only politics were around the Raincoming Day when the men would bargain[…]

“I tell you, I heard something.” “So what if you did? You talk too much.” “Don’t you ever wonder?” “Hmmmffft…” “No, don’t ever think that there is more than this water and these rocks and–” “Whatever. You talk too much. You should focus on eating.” “Didn’t you hear that?! Please[…]

The Babylonian gods were the first. Their believers and their faith died off long before many of the others. The Great Dragon Queen, Tiamat, and the vicious, spiked warrior, Marduk, would be the last to go as they defiantly fought each other in their endless conflict. But, no matter their status,[…]

It really all began on the green, leafy Dartmouth College campus in the lazy summer of 1956. The official story involves great academic curiosity driven to pursue the newly realized field of Artificial Intelligence–AI–but the real story is that most of that original team cannot actually remember who initiated the[…]

The Forest Gods had called a Gathering. Their loud trumpet decreed these intentions from the never-living tree trunks that they had stuck in the ground throughout the forest. These tree trunks were magical and never decayed. The Forest Gods were like that: magical. It was an official Gathering. Every bird[…]

In the woods, there is a small, overgrown path. This path leads to a small, overgrown clearing. In this small, overgrown clearing lies a weathered, moss-covered gravestone. There is no name chiselled onto it nor any flowers or gifts on the grave. Only after a few drinks will farmers in[…]

In the beginning, swirling in the base primordial soup on a barren planet, chaotic elements combined and life appeared. First drifting, then swimming and then crawling from the seas, life began to slither, then walk and then fly. Some took root while others took flight and remaining took shade. Finally,[…]

“Don’t go down to the woods tonight, little girl,” said the grizzled, old man while sucking on his half-lit pipe, “The Sleepers there will be waking from their dark, ageless slumber to dance in the bloodless moonlight like wild dogs. They will drain you of your virgin blood, little girl,[…]

The old man who lived in the woods outside of the village had said that she was born with a curious fate. Her mother had said that is must be something good, and so she had called her “Hope”. The village folk had celebrated her birth briefly before returning to[…]

Steampunk Snail starts its engine and the ground shakes. Enemies flee as Steampunk Snail begins to move, billowing smoke pumping from its roaring engine as flames flare out of its sides. The mechanical roar rises in intensity as Steampunk Snail builds up momentum. Steampunk Snail knows where it is going[…]

The light of day recedes and a chilly, silence covers the air as you step over the threshold into the infamous maze. From the outside, it looks just like a dark, overgrown cave entrance in the side of a rugged mountain, but local legend said that an immortal wizard had[…]

Hidden away in a cosmic alcove, there is an ancient chamber of immense size and emptiness. Stars twinkle in the darkness covering its ceiling and its walls are so far apart as to appear like narrow horizons. In the middle of the floor, two gargantuan statues stand locked in mortal[…]

He remembered a time before when things were light and he was happy. He could not really remember what that time or place looked like. All he could remember was how it felt: comfortable. He had felt comfortable. But he had Fallen. That is what everyone told him because they[…]

“In the beginning, Man was quite simple. Man liked the warmth and light of the day and he feared the cold and dark of the night. Thus, there was a friendly god of the day and an evil god of the night. Man had to eat and drink, thus there[…]